Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA Swim Team
We did this set in a 25m pool. After the prescribed underwater distance, swim smooth free, fly, or back for the remainder of the lap. This interval gave most of our squad :05-:10 rest per 25.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA Swim Team at the YMCA of Central Virginia
We did this one recently at a morning practice. Most swimmers said they liked and that it was pretty challenging.
SCY.
? x 50 Fly strong @ :40
1 x 100 Back Fast for time
1 x 50 EZ
? x 50 Back strong @:40
1 x 150 Breast Fast for time
1 x 50 EZ
? x 50 Breast strong @:45
1 x 200 Free Fast for time
1 x 50 EZ
? x 100 IM Fastest Possible Average @ 2:00
(Last one from a dive)
We ended up doing between eight and twelve 50s in each of the three sets. The top part of our group went on the intervals listed — the rest went on an interval :05 slower. My intent with the 50s was to let fatigue build gradually through repetition at speeds that would give them ~ :05 rest. Once I sensed we were starting to wobble a bit, I gave the “final 50” warning. We did a last 50 and then launched into the timed swim of the next stroke.
For the last set of 100 IMs, we did a little “stopwatch roulette ” (start a watch, then stop randomly — use the number in the hundredths pace) to determine how many we did. We got 4 – so we did three from a push and one off the blocks.
Coach Ryan Woodruff.
SCY.
The name for this set was suggested by a swimmer after we completed it at a recent morning practice. Despite the name, our squad enjoyed the set and did a great job pushing themselves and each other.
Ryan Woodruff.
SCY
We had a very full practice for this one. Mixing in dryland allowed us to get some good work in and keep everyone moving at a high intensity.
Ryan Woodruff
SCY
Wrote this one for a 200 fly specialist
Ryan Woodruff
SCY. Most of our group was getting at least 8-10 seconds of rest on the smooth 100s and hovering on either side of 1:00 for the FPA 100s. Solid early season work for us.
Ryan Woodruff
The three columns of intervals (SCY)here represent an A/B/C option for different levels of swimmers. Ideally, the fastest interval should push the swimmers a bit on the first 3 rounds and be a significant challenge at the end of the set. This was a good finisher for a recent practice of ours. The last set of 6 got spicy for sure.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
7 total swims. Aim to finish each the first 6 swims under 5:00 so that you get :30 rest. Last swim is a 500 for time!!!
For faster or slower swimmers, you can increase or decrease the distances. I chose these distances to be appropriate for our group today.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
UW = Under water kicking
⬇️ = Descend (get faster on successive repeats)
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
We did this one recently for some good butterfly work on a day when we had more swimmers present than could train effectively in the space available. We split into two groups – one group would do the swimming set while the other group did dryland set on the deck, and then they switched. The dryland exercises always takes less time, so that allows for some rest before starting the next fly set.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA.
SCY.
This isn’t the most creative set ever, but it gets the job done for a cool 4,000 yds of aerobic work. The instructions for our crew were to negative split the long swim, and then make both of the shorter swims faster than half of the long swim. The intervals listed represent the A interval for our group, on a 1:10 per 100 base.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Some training just has to be done. Because it is good for you. Even if you don’t love it.
Today’s set is in 2 parts. The first part is primarily freestyle, and the 2nd part is primarily IM. At the end of each round we did some open-ended scull/swim by 25, which allows for some recovery and re-grouping.
JMI = Just make it
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
🥦🥬🌽🥕🍅🥦🌽🫑🌶️🥒🥕
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
FRIM (I say it as FreeIM) and Paddlehead drill. Paddlehead drill is swimming freestyle with a hand paddle position on the front of the swimmer’s head, with nothing holding it in place except the oncoming water.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
We are just getting back into training, and this one served as a bit of technical work with some decent-quality fly. We are still training short course meters.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
JMI = just make it. FPA = fastest possible average. Choose the interval that will be challenging but makeable for the FPA 50s.
Coach Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
This set was seeking a very specific pattern of pacing on each 600, as indicated by the line graph for each one. Failure to split it correctly meant repeating that 600. To interpret…
1 – 300 at a consistent pace, 300 at a faster pace, also consistent
2 – 3 x 200 descend, each one at a consistent pace
3 – 2 sets of 3 x 100 descending
4 – 4 x 100 descend + 200 fast and consistent
5 – 3 x 100 descend + 300 fast and consistent
6 – 2 x 100 descend + 400 fast and consistent
The second picture shows how it turned out for our swimmer, with splits written next to each graph. We had to do the first 600 twice due to some early set rusty-ness. Splits for the first of those two are not included.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA. Simple competition. Print out best time splits ahead of time and start racing.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA.
SCY.
Lock in excellence through repetition at decreasing amounts of rest.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY. This set really brought on the burn. FPA = Fastest Possible Average. JMI = Just make it. Initially, the 7 x 50 were not written on the board and then were added during the 2nd 200 scull/swim by 25. This added a surprise challenge that they excelled at.
The Swimming Wizard 